Thanks for the reply. In an ideal scenario, the 3 others in the band are free and willing either night and we'd go where it best fits a bill. I'm volunteering them to support the back catalogue, still awaiting the responses. What is a typical set duration, you think? Dennis

We're still trying to figure out the schedule. Slots are likely going to be 20-25 minutes, with that time being for BOTH your performance AND your setup/teardown. With the number of confirmed acts we have that would account for all the available time at the venue, from their usual start time of 9pm to their cutoff of 12:30am (including saving the last hour on Saturday for the live fight). We'll have a backline that we prefer folks use to try to minimize the setup and teardown time. Let's all try to keep things moving along so everybody gets their time and so that we don't run behind schedule, resulting in the later performers having their sets cut short. If anybody knows they're going to have any unusual/extra setup/teardown time, please think about maybe doing one less song than you want to do, so you don't run over time. I know that sucks since this is likely the only time you get to perform, but that is also the case for nearly everybody else performing, so please be considerate.

Thank you. I guess then some iteration thereof will happily perform a well selected set of sos songs. I suspect Blue being in Florida keeps him out or I'd have heard rumblings of interest otherwise. We'll be true to it. I'd think sonofsonofsupercar would be apt. On Friday if that suites the mods.

OK, so ... does anybody want to volunteer to take the last set on Friday night? Start time will probably be around 11:45-11:50. We had been thinking of having a local "headliner" but that start time is a bit late. Any night owl out of towners want that final slot? If not, no problem, we'll figure it out.

Mr. Car/sonofsupercar is all good for Friday. Blue is in the "see what I can do" column, but a sub drummer will appear if not. I'll watch this space for set time assignments. Happy to hear of the back line and will take full advantage. Thanks for setting this up, friends in Berkeley. Some sos songs I've never played live before in the short mix. Outta be fun.

If folks could provide info about their planned stage setup that would be helpful.

Jack, are you guys going to be a duo or a full band?

Mr. Car, sounds like you've got a full band, right? Do you guys mind using our backline? You can just bring your guitars if you want.

I assume some folks (Roymond? Jeff?) will have laptops and/or phones/tablets with backing tracks?

Hey Sam. That 2nd slot works good for us. Thanks! We are doing an "unplugged" brody set with a trio. 2 guitars and bass, or 3 guitars, or 2 guitars and mandolin. Eric asked if they'll have a stage mic for the mandolin? Will they have stools or chairs so we can sit and play? Also, what time will folks be at the venue and can we drop off instruments before the fun starts in case we want to grab a bite before our set? We are planning a 20-25 minute set (our tentative set list is 7 songs).

"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." - Mark Twain

jack wrote:We are doing an "unplugged" brody set with a trio. 2 guitars and bass, or 3 guitars, or 2 guitars and mandolin.

Will the guitars be electrics or acoustics? If acoustics will they have pickups? And you'll be bringing your own guitars, bass, and mandolin?

jack wrote:Eric asked if they'll have a stage mic for the mandolin?

Two things. One is, we haven't had great luck getting the venue to answer our questions about stuff like this, unfortunately. We can ask for stuff but I can't make guarantees about what we will actually get. The other is, we hadn't thought about a stage mic for completely acoustic instruments yet. I was thinking of asking for 4-5 vocal mics across the front of the stage. So you could probably just reuse one of those for the mando, as long as there's one with a boom stand. It's probably going to be tough to get the sound guy to do a lot of customization for everybody's sets because of the number of sets. The more unique your setup the more time you should allocate for setup/teardown within your 25 minutes.

jack wrote:Will they have stools or chairs so we can sit and play?

I don't know. We can bring a couple chairs if you guys don't have any that you can bring. If you have your own though it might be simplest if you bring them. Basically anybody who has any custom needs should try to take care of those themselves as much as possible. I'll post in another thread about our plans for backline etc. so folks have an idea of what the baseline is so they can tell how much their plans vary from that.

jack wrote:Also, what time will folks be at the venue and can we drop off instruments before the fun starts in case we want to grab a bite before our set?

Not sure yet, but probably fairly early. Erin and I took the day off. I think maybe Ken did too, not sure. We'll be probably making a couple of trips to load all the gear in. I'd say 6pm? 7pm latest hopefully? There is a lot of great food in Berkeley as you're probably aware but the Plough also has good pub food too if you're not looking to go to Chez Panisse.

jack wrote:We are planning a 20-25 minute set (our tentative set list is 7 songs).

If you've got a solid 20 minutes of music that's great. If you've got more than that ... maybe think about which one of the seven songs you wouldn't mind cutting for time if it comes to it.

jack wrote:We are doing an "unplugged" brody set with a trio. 2 guitars and bass, or 3 guitars, or 2 guitars and mandolin.

Will the guitars be electrics or acoustics? If acoustics will they have pickups? And you'll be bringing your own guitars, bass, and mandolin?

jack wrote:Eric asked if they'll have a stage mic for the mandolin?

Two things. One is, we haven't had great luck getting the venue to answer our questions about stuff like this, unfortunately. We can ask for stuff but I can't make guarantees about what we will actually get. The other is, we hadn't thought about a stage mic for completely acoustic instruments yet. I was thinking of asking for 4-5 vocal mics across the front of the stage. So you could probably just reuse one of those for the mando, as long as there's one with a boom stand. It's probably going to be tough to get the sound guy to do a lot of customization for everybody's sets because of the number of sets. The more unique your setup the more time you should allocate for setup/teardown within your 25 minutes.

jack wrote:Will they have stools or chairs so we can sit and play?

I don't know. We can bring a couple chairs if you guys don't have any that you can bring. If you have your own though it might be simplest if you bring them. Basically anybody who has any custom needs should try to take care of those themselves as much as possible. I'll post in another thread about our plans for backline etc. so folks have an idea of what the baseline is so they can tell how much their plans vary from that.

jack wrote:Also, what time will folks be at the venue and can we drop off instruments before the fun starts in case we want to grab a bite before our set?

Not sure yet, but probably fairly early. Erin and I took the day off. I think maybe Ken did too, not sure. We'll be probably making a couple of trips to load all the gear in. I'd say 6pm? 7pm latest hopefully? There is a lot of great food in Berkeley as you're probably aware but the Plough also has good pub food too if you're not looking to go to Chez Panisse.

jack wrote:We are planning a 20-25 minute set (our tentative set list is 7 songs).

If you've got a solid 20 minutes of music that's great. If you've got more than that ... maybe think about which one of the seven songs you wouldn't mind cutting for time if it comes to it.

Thanks the for the quick response. We are planning on bringing our own instruments. I think a stage vocal mic for the mandolin will be fine. I don't think we'll need any customizations from the sound guy. We might also just do an electric guitar, bass, and one acoustic guitar with occasional mandolin (and again we could probably just use a vocal stage mic for the acoustic if it has a boom stand). We could probably bring and use an acoustic/electric as well if it's an issue. I'd hope they have a couple chairs or bar stools we can plunder from the gallery for our set (or we'll stand if we have to). I think we were going to try to arrive around 6:30 or 7. And funny you mention it but we were thinking of grabbing food at Chez Panisse (the cafe). I have a gift certificate I want to use there. We were gonna try to hit CP around 7 if we can get in.

"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." - Mark Twain

jack wrote:Thanks the for the quick response. We are planning on bringing our own instruments. I think a stage vocal mic for the mandolin will be fine. I don't think we'll need any customizations from the sound guy. We might also just do an electric guitar, bass, and one acoustic guitar with occasional mandolin (and again we could probably just use a vocal stage mic for the acoustic if it has a boom stand). We could probably bring and use an acoustic/electric as well if it's an issue. I'd hope they have a couple chairs or bar stools we can plunder from the gallery for our set (or we'll stand if we have to). I think we were going to try to arrive around 6:30 or 7. And funny you mention it but we were thinking of grabbing food at Chez Panisse (the cafe). I have a gift certificate I want to use there. We were gonna try to hit CP around 7 if we can get in.

OK cool, if you do electric guitar, bass, and an acoustic/electric, we should have amps and a DI ready to go for all that. You're probably right, you can probably at the very least swipe some seats from off stage. That's funny about Chez Panisse. You may want to call and see if you can get a reservation. Friday night at the cafe will be busy. It might be tight showing up at the cafe at 7 without a reservation and trying to get a table and eat and get back to the Plough by 9. (Please don't plan to get back to the Plough right at 9:25 for your set. )